Ericka Chickowski

As the proliferation of cool new smartphones, netbooks and tablet computers continues both at home and within the workplace, many IT departments are being required by business stakeholders to bend to the influence of their users when it comes to the important decisions around technology adoption. In enterprises where standardized equipment used to be the only equipment available, users have made inroads with Apple iPhones, non-standard netbooks, iPads and even Android-based smartphones. Soon the Cisco Cius Android-based tablet computer will make its debut, offering yet another device for IT to secure. And HP is planning a number of devices for the enterprise based on the WebOS platform operating system that it got as part of the Palm acquisition. It all makes for a diverse bunch of devices. But are the risks of supporting so many different, non-standard devices being properly assessed as IT strategies are changed to account for user expectations? RSA recently commissioned a study of 400 senior IT and security leaders conducted by IDG Research Services to find out more on the matter. Here's what they found.